Rare Ray treat for Mumbai

KOLKATA: Satyajit Ray the filmmaker has been showcased on several platforms. But there have been few displays of the other talents of the multifaceted genius that he was. This February, for the first time, Mumbai will get a glimpse of this 'other Ray' - Ray the photographer, the set and costume designer or the adman.
Organized by the Satyajit Ray Society and the Mumbai chapter of the Presidency University alumni association, the exhibition will be part of a Banga Sammelan to be held in that city from February 15-17 at the Rabindra Natya Mandir.Ray's son, filmmaker Sandip Ray, and key people of the society are culling rare and lesser known creative materials by the maestro for this exhibition. The junior Ray will be in Mumbai for interaction during the exhibition.
Ray was a keen photographer and at least 1,200 rare negatives have been preserved at the Ray Society. "We have chosen the shots to be displayed and are getting the negatives printed into blow-ups. There are interesting shots that Ray had taken of Uttam Kumar, for example, not while he was shooting for 'Nayak' or 'Chiriakhana' but when the two travelled together to film festivals at Rome and Berlin. Ray clicked him then, completely at leisure. There is one photograph in which you see Uttam Kumar off balance on an escalator. These hadn't made their appearance in India then," shared Sandip Ray. Ray had similarly clicked filmmakers Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni, which will also be shown at the exhibition.
Ray had started his career as an adman and worked at an agency called DJ Keymer. It was here that he first made his mark for bringing in Orientalism in a field that was those days completely under Western influence. "The print advertisements that Ray had designed for Jabakusum hair oil and Chelsea cigarette are examples of this. The ads were hits and Ray was praised for his work. These will be exhibited as well," said Arup De, spokesperson of the Society.
In the Jabakusum ad, for example, Ray has poked fun at the modern woman who shied away from hair oil and did not like to wet her hair. Again, for Chelsea cigarette, he had made a caricature of the quintessential gentleman who has lost all in a race but a puff of his cigarette lifts his mood.
Among the other exhibits will be several sketches of set and costume designs that may or may not have been used in the films. A sketch of Feluda's room in colour, the costume of Hallar Raja in 'Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne', those of the characters of 'Kanchenjungha', a unique script used for the poster of 'Joy Baba Felunath', which looked like Hindi but was actually Bengali and later dropped by Ray, are some examples. Posters, title cards and book covers done by Ray will also be displayed.
Actor Dhritiman Chatterjee, a Ray favourite who had acted in 'Pratidwandi' and 'Ganashatru', will also be present at the exhibition. The alumni association has senior professionals of Mumbai who have been getting together in that city to celebrate Bangaliana for the past 15 years. "Ray is celebrated in Mumbai, almost as much as in Kolkata. People here are familiar with his films, so we wanted to bring to them his other side. We are happy that the Ray Society has made this possible," said Pabak Chatterjee, the secretary of the alumni association and MD of an insurance broking company.